Legal aid reforms delayed

The legal aid reforms to civil and family law have been pushed back six months from next October to April 2013.

The proposed reforms remove legal aid from clinical negligence, private family work, debt, benefits, housing, employment and several other areas of law. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) would be abolished and replaced by a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) agency.

According to the MoJ, the reforms have been delayed in order to give 12 months for a full contract tender process to take place once Parliament has confirmed the precise content of the Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Bill, and there is sufficient clarity about the likely content of secondary legislation which will be relevant to the civil legal aid contract process. The Bill is unlikely to be given Royal Assent earlier than March 2012.

The MoJ said the delays recognise the “significant changes” affecting providers, including the legal aid reforms, the introduction of alternative business structures and the quality assurance scheme for advocates.

An MoJ spokesperson said: “New contracts to provide civil and family advice will be offered to lawyers in April 2013, which will give them sufficient time to consider the final details of the new legal aid scheme which Parliament is expected to agree in spring 2012.

“Once lawyers have adjusted to the new scheme and other regulatory changes, we will consult in autumn 2013 on introducing competition for criminal defence work, with a view to extending it to civil and family work at a later date.”

Legal groups welcomed the announcement but vowed to continue their campaign against parts of the Bill, which will move to committee stage in the House of Lords on 20 December.

Peter Lodder QC, chairman of the Bar, said he welcomed the postponement “as an opportunity for the government to reflect further on the wisdom of what is proposed in the light of all the representations which have been made to both Houses of Parliament and the views of Parliamentarians themselves.

“However, we retain our principled opposition to, and will continue to lobby against, many of the proposals [of the Bill]”.

Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society, said: “We have repeatedly warned that implementation of the proposed changes to legal aid scope and provision by October 2012 was impractical.

“The new timetable is still challenging, given the work required to implement changes of this magnitude. Like other small businesses, law firms need reasonable notice of changes affecting them.

“But even given a more workable implementation timetable, solicitors and their clients who rely upon legal aid to secure justice are not well served by the poorly-evidenced and ill-conceived measures in the Bill. The Bill will not deliver the claimed financial savings and risks denying access to justice to all but the well-off. This delay to the implementation schedule offers a window of opportunity to work with stakeholders in improving the Bill.”